Street-railway switch.



PATENTED JULY 24, 1906.

C. W. PAITOUT E. STREET RAILWAY SWITCH APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES ATTORNEY.

TH: NORRIS PETERS 50., WASHINGTON, b c.

No. 826,774. PATENTED JULY 24, 1906. U. W. PAITOUTE. STREET RAILWAYSWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES INVENTOR i fll flvk BY ATTORNEY 1n: Noam: runs 00..wAsuma-mzv, n, c.

-CHARLESW. FAITOUTE, OF SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY.

STREET-RAILWAY SWITCH- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 24, 1906.

Application filed J'anuar 25,1905. Serial No. 242.670.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES W. FAIToUTE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Summit, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, haveinvented a new and useful Street-Railway Switch, of which the followingis a specification.

The objects ofthis invention are to provide for street-railways aswitch-operating device which can be operated by the motorman from thecar to throw the switch as it is reached, to thus avoid theinconvenience of leaving the car or the expense of a man stationed at.the switch; to obtain for this purpose a simple and cheap constructionwhich will not be liable to get out of order; to secure such a devicewhich can be stationed entirely upon the car, and to obtain otheradvantages and results, some of which may be referred to hereinafter inconnection with the description of the working parts.

The invention consists in the improved street-railway-switch-operatingdevice and in the arrangements and combinations of parts of the same,all substantially as will be hereinafter set forth, and finally embracedin the clauses of the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals ofreference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several figures,Figure 1 is plan of a portion of the car-platform broken away andsupporting at its under side the working parts of my invention. Fig. 2is a vertical section of the same, taken at line 00, Fig. 1, and showingthe cartrack rails also in section. Fig. 3 is a detail section upon liney, Fig. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow. Fig. 4 is aside elevation of a certain plunger and its cam support, taken from aviewpoint at right angles to that in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a plan of a railwith its switch-point about to be engaged by the throwing means, whichis showndotted. Fig. 6 illustrates amodified construction ofswitch-point and manner of throwing the same; and Fig. 7 is across-section of the same upon line 2, Fig. 6;

In said drawings, 2 indicates the floor or platform of a car, and 3 3the rails of the track, said rails being of the usual construction witha switch point or tongue 4 where the track branches. Upon the under sideof the said platform 2 is a supporting frame or bracket 5, and in saidframe is mounted a plunger 6, which carries at its lower end a memberadapted to engage the rail. Pref erably the said member is a wheel 7,with a beveled or inclined edge 8, and which edge is adapted to wedgebetween the switch-tongue and the body portion of the rail to throw theswitch. To this end the lower end of the plunger carries a sliding block9, normally held downward by a spring 10, so that as the wheel 7 runsalong the track it will lower into the space in which the switch-tongueswings. Obviously the said wheel 7 could be a fixed shoe with a bevelededge.

According as the switch-tongue is to be thrown toward the right ortoward the left to enable a car to take its proper course the plunger 6must be rotated through a halfcircle, so as to bring its beveled wheel 7into proper position to operate the switch. I have therefore providedupon the under part of the supporting-bracket 5 an extension 11, whichcarries at two opposite sides of the plunger rollers or wheels 12,adapted to engage a broad circular cam-plate 13, fixed upon the plunger.Normally the plunger stands with the low points of this cam-plateengaging the said wheels 12, so that the plunger is held in elevatedposition by means of a spring 14 within the supporting-frame extension11. The wheel 7 in this position of the plunger lies transversely of therail and needs tobe swung only a quarter-turn in one direction or theother to bring it into position to engage theswitch-tongue. Thisswinging also forces the elevated points 15 of the cam-plate 18 beneaththe friction-wheels or rollers 12, and thus presses the plunger downwardinto engagement with the track at the same time that it is turned. Forthus rotating the plunger a crank-disk 16 is applied to its upper endhaving a pin 17, which receives one end of a link 18, which at its otherend is pivoted to a switch-throwing lever 19, the last said lever beingadapted to be thrown by engagement therewith of the beveled surface 20of a vertical foot-plunger 21, mounted in the carfloor and havinggrooves 22 at its sides to guide the same. Normally the link 18 lies ina line which when extended would pass through the center of thecrank-disk 16, and is thus on a dead-center, occupying this positionwhen the member or wheel 7 at the foot of the plunger lies transverselyof the rail.

To throw the link 18 toward one side or the other, according as it isdesired to operate the switch-tongue, a lever 23, pivoted, as at 24,upon the car-bottom, engages at its opposite slotted end 25 a pin 26upon the link 18.

IIO

This lever 23 is connected by a link 27 with one arm 28 of a shaft 29,which extends up through the car-bottom and is provided with afoot-crank 30. The motorman has therefore only to kick the crank 30 inone direction or the other, according to the way he wants to throw theswitch, and then step on the foot-plunger 21, when, as will beunderstood, the parts will operate, as above described.

The torsional tension of the spring 14 may be utilized to return theparts to normal position, since the normal tendency is for the wheels 12to stand at the lowest points of the cam-plate 13.

By securing a tilting piece 32 fast to the switch-point 41, as shown inFigs. 6 and 7, and fitting the same in a seat of the rail 3 1, so thatone end or the other is bound to project, a flat-tread wheel could beemployed upon the plunger 6 of the car to engage said tilting piece andthrow the switch-tongue, as will be understood.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is 1. Thecombination with the car, a supporting frame or bracket, a plungerarranged in said frame, a wheel with a beveled edge arranged on saidplunger to engage the switchtongue, a cam-plate having high and lowpoints on its upper surface, a foot crank and means for automaticallyholding said cam-plate and its plunger normally upward against the frameand the wheel in transverse relation to the switch-tongue and means forturning the plunger and its camplate to bring the high points of thecamplate into engagement with the frame to depress the plunger and bringthe wheel into approximately parallel relation to the switch to shiftthe same in one direction or the other.

2. The improved switch mechanism herein described, comprising asupporting-frame having oppositelydisposed antifrictionwheels, a plungerand means for turning the same pivotally, a wheel on said plunger toengage the switch, a cam-plate, also on said plunger, having oppositehigh and low points, the high points being opposite one another and thelow points being correspondingly op posite one another, and means forpressing the cam-plate upwardly against the antifriction-wheels of thesupporting-frame, substantially as set forth.

3. In a switch-operating device, a supporting-bracket adapted to dependfrom a car, a vertical plunger mounted in said bracket, friction-wheelsupon said bracket, a horizontally-disposed cam-plate upon said plungeradapted to engage said wheels, a member at the bottom of the plunger forengaging a switch-point to throw the same, means for turning saidplunger and mearisfor returning the plunger to normal or idle position.

4. In a switch-operating device, a plunger depending from the car andadapted when rotated to engage a switch-point to throw the same, a leverlinked eccentrically to the top of said plunger, and a foot-plungermounted in the car-floor and havin a beveled edge adapted to engage saidfever to swing the same.

5. In a switch-operating device, a plunger depending from the car andadapted when rotated to engage a switch-point to throw the same, a leverlinked eccentrically to the top of said plunger, said link lyingnormally in a line which extended would pass through the center of theplunger, a foot-plunger mounted inthe car-floor and having a bevelededge adapted to engage said lever to swing the same, and an auxiliarycrank connected to said link to throw the same off its dead-center.

- In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

CHARLES W. FAITOUTE.

Witnesses: I I

0. WILLIAM FAITOUTE, MINNIE B. FAITOUTE. v

